Article in Provo Newspaper from Helen

Helen wrote: This article was sent to me by a good friend. Thought you would enjoy. Love Helen

Quit the Church

In a local newspaper in Provo, Utah, there had been an ongoing series of articles written by individuals who wanted to persuade LDS Church members to leave the Church. In response to the highly critical and spirited remarks, a local member wrote this rebuttal:

Editor:

I have been thinking of quitting the Mormon Church. Yes, if I can, I am going to get even with that church. As soon as I can find another church that teaches about the Gathering of the House of Israel; the return of the Ten Tribes and their mission; the return of the Jews to Palestine and why, and how they are going to build the temple; the building of temples and what to do with them; the mission of Elias, the
prophet, as predicted by Malachi; the method for the salvation of the people that died at the time of Noah in the flood; the origin of the American Indian; the complete explanation of why Jesus of Nazareth had to have a mortal mother but not a mortal father; the explanation of the three degrees of glory (three heavens) as mentioned by Paul; the complete explanation of why Elias and Moses did not die but had to be translated (since they both lived before the resurrection was introduced by Christ); the restoration of the gospel by modern revelation as promised by Peter and Paul and Jesus himself; the belief in eternal marriage and the family, and the knowledge and the place to seal for eternity; that teaches abstinence from all harmful drugs and foods ; and that sells the best fire insurance policy on earth, for the last days, for only a 10th of my income.

Yes sir, as soon as I can find another church that teaches all that, or even half as much, I will say good-bye to this Mormon Church. The church that I am looking for must also be able to motivate 50,000+ youth, and adults, for the first, second or third time, to leave their homes for two years at their own expense and go too far-away places to teach and preach without salary. It must be able to call, on a frosty day, some 5 or 6 thousand professors, students, lawyers, doctors, judges, policemen, businessmen, housewives and children to go and pick apples at 6 a. m. It must be able to call meetings and get the attention for two hours of more than 150,000 men. Yes, it must also teach and show why salvation is assured for children who die before
eight years of age.

Mr. Editor, could you help me find a church that teaches all that and more than hundreds of other doctrines and principles, which I have no room to mention here, and which brings solace and comfort to the soul; peace, hope, and salvation to mankind, and above all, that answers the key questions that all the great philosophers have asked; questions and answers that explain the meaning of life, the purpose of death, suffering and pain; the absolute need for a Redeemer and the marvelous plan conceived and executed by Jesus Christ the Savior? Yes, as soon as I find another church that teaches that, and also that has the organization and the powers to make that teaching effective, I am going to quit the Mormon Church. For I should not tolerate that "they" should change a few words in the Book of Mormon-even if those changes simply improve the grammar and the syntax of the verses-for, after all, don't you think the Divine Church should employ angels as bookmakers, and clerks, to do all the chores on earth? Don't you think, Mr. Editor,
that the Divine Church should also have prophets that don't get sick and don't get old and die, and certainly, that don't make a goof here and there. No, sir! A Divine Church should be so divine that only perfect people should belong to it, and only perfect people should run it.

As a matter of fact, the Church should be so perfect that it should not even be here on earth! So, I repeat, if any one of the kind readers of this imperfect letter knows about another church that teaches and does as much for mankind as the Mormon Church, please let me know. And please do it soon, because my turn to go to the cannery is coming up. Also, "they" want my last son (the fifth one) to go away for two years and again, I have to pay for all that. And I also know that they expect me to go to the farm to prune trees, and I have heard that our ward is going to be divided again, and it is our side that must build the new chapel. And also, someone the other day had the gall of suggesting that my wife and I get ready to go on a second
mission, and when you come back, they said, you can volunteer as a temple worker. Boy, these Mormons don't leave you alone for a minute. And what do I get for all that, I asked? "Well," they said, "for one, you can look forward to a funeral service at no charge!". . .Do you think you can help me to find another church?

Thomas D. Clark

Things from the Past!

When I was in high school one of the popular things to say, during a lull in conversation was:

"That's life. 

What's life?

Life is a magazine.

Where do you get it?

At the corner drug store.

How much does it cost?

Fifty cents.

I don't have that much.

That's life.

What's life."

This smart ditty was repeated ad nauseaum or until someone said: "That's enough of life." I wonder if that is why the magazine went out of print in my lifetime?

Another neat thing we used to do was buy packages of Kool-Aid for a nickel. We would then lick the dry Kool-Aid from our hands, a bit at a time. It made a wonderful mess of our faces and we couldn't wash it off very easily (Who am I kidding? We couldn't wash it off for days.) but it was really, really good. Jell-O was also good for eating from the package. You had to be careful of that one, however. One time Frankie Ruzzuto and his siblings brought out a permanent wave of their mother's. We all thought, including them, that it was orange Jell-O. We ate it and had to go to the doctor--Garth. David and I. Great fun--eat poison administered by a friend. The only saving grace was that they had to go to the doctor also--there were three of them also. I understand that Frankie ended up being a brain and making a name for himself. I looked him up on white pages once but there were three Frank Ruzzutos. One was in Nebraska, one in New Jersey and one in New York. So much for that. I had no intention of contacting him, at any rate, but I was curious.

Anyway, Ann Olsen and I were talking about all of this, via e-mail. I thought I would share with all of you.

Hailey's Photos

Amy G wrote: Hey everyone,

Just sending a link to my neighbor's photography blog.  She did Hailey’s 3 year old pictures the other day and posted a couple on her page.  When she finishes editing them all, I will give you the password to go on her website to view them.  Feel free to leave a comment on her blog, if you would like.  She loves hearing what people think of her pictures.  Enjoy!

http://blueberrylanephotography.typepad.com/blueberry_lane_photograph/

Here's the link to see Hailey's finished pictures.  Remember you need the user name and password to see them.  They are below. (yes, Hailey's user name is spelled wrong, just go with it :) )   Let me know what you think!  Enjoy!

Amy


From: Toni Hammersley [mailto:blueberrylane@columbus.rr.com] 
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 10:20 AM
To: Amy Trauntvein
Subject: haleys pictures

Hello,
Here is the link to haleys pictures.  The name is Haley and the password is trauntvein.  
Thanks!
Toni


Kirsten wrote: So, how do you choose? "Yes, could I have five of each?" I love your 
photographer (kids are pretty great, too)! She looks gorgeous and 
much older than just three. :)

Kirsten

Kimberly wrote: Very, very cute.

Kimberly


Myrna wrote: Thank you for sharing. She looks like a famous classic Danish porcelain figurine we saw in Denmark. I think it would be hard to choose just one. They are all such great photos. What a talent your friend has. Of course, she had a beautiful subject to work with. Gramps likes the one of her dancing the very best of all of them. Love, M

Melanie Sent Newspaper Link

Melanie wrote:

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/

This link allows you to scroll across any part of the world and you can see that day's paper. Try it out. I checked out Omaha, Salt Lake and Newcastle. Kind of fun. 

Myrna wrote: Thanks, so much, Melanie. This is a great site. Love, M

Shawn wrote: Maybe I am missing something, because I could not find either the Times-News or the Sun Advocate in Utah.

Myrna wrote: Only state papers are noted. There are a lot of smaller papers that are not listed, even back by Melanie.

Shawn wrote: I know. I was trying to be humerous. I was hoping you would get a good laugh. I didn't really expect the Sun Advocate to be there, although I had hopes the Times-News might make the cut.

Myrna wrote: Oh! Remember, I am the slow one. I take everything literally. By the way, the Herald in Provo is not there either. Shawn, do you like your new job? Love, M

Please Help With Computer Knowledge

Myrna wrote to Allan Gibson: We are leaving town on Friday afternoon and flying to Colorado and are flying back early in the a.m. on Monday. I will be at county commission meeting. We are going to Kirsten's because our granddaughter is getting baptized and we wanted to be part of the celebration.

So do not worry about the problem I am relaying below until we return.

I think something must be wrong with the router. When it is plugged in, of course, the printer works. But most of the time it is plugged in the internet does not work. If I bypass it and go directly to the back of the computer, the internet comes right up. I have not known what to do with the little machine (Asante Talk) that enables the printer without using the router. It is a conundrum to me how to use both. As you know, there is no room to plug the printer into the back of the computer and so, without using the router, there is no way to plug in the computer. This is all fine and dandy unless, like now, I need to print off my airline tickets from the computer.

I also have another problem I have been dealing with since I got the printer. Whenever there is a bump in the electric power, the printer will not work again until I unplug everything, turn off the printer then turn it on, and start over by plugging in all of the lines one at a time. I have no idea what causes that nor what to do about it. However, right now, the printer will not work because the internet and e-mail would not work with the router plugged in.

BAH!

Also I have had a call in to the sheriff for two weeks about the burglaries. His secretary said they were working on the information. NOTHING!

Myrna addressed the family: It occurred to me that one of you computer geniuses might be able to help me with this problem. Thanks, M

Myrna wrote again: I don't need it. I figured it out for myself. Thanks anyway. M

Regarding

Myrna wrote: None of you have been to the Trauntvein blog site to see your Dad's happy birthday photos. 

The sister who has us doing temple file names is not well and has now quit working at the temple. She would like all of you to mail the names you have done back to me so that I can turn them into the temple to be put in her file so that her husband can pick them up for her.

Thanks

Kirsten wrote: Hmmmm...   sneaky how those birthday pictures got snuck in there.  BECAUSE, I was just on the blog Sunday night and did not see them...  silly, me.  I kept checking and had only seen photos Todd posted of Brado potatoe's Eagle ceremony.  Now how did that happen.... (something about a time stamp maybe?)  hahahaha

Kirsten

Siovhan wrote: Grandma had only hit the save post button...so when I was looking through the blog the other night I posted the actual post. But blogger does back-date them to when you first began the post...that's why no one had seen the pictures. 

Siovhan

Myrna wrote: Those photos have been there. Honestly. They have been there for quite some time, stamp or no stamp. Maybe you just did not notice them because they were below the scout photos. Love, M

Amy G wrote: Did you get the 6 names I put in the mail last week?  I did see Leonard’s birthday photos, but didn’t have time to write a comment.  I’ll get on later today.

Amy

Myrna wrote: Yes, I did get the temple names. Thank you very much for your thoughtfulness in doing them and in sending them. We also appreciated your dear note. Thanks again. Love, M 

To Siovhan from Myrna: Thank you, Miss Muppet! I guess I need to go back to the site and figure out how to actually post. Right? Or, since I have the best editor (Siovhan) on my side, I can just leave it to you, dear heart, to fix all my errors? Love, M

Todd wrote: Hey all, a little reminder about e-mail etiquette.  When a family e-mail goes out and then comes back to just you, you don’t forward that response back out to everyone.  The party-line conversation is over and it becomes a one-on-one conversation.

 

Mom, I got two e-mails on this same response.  The subject line is the same on all of them and they become “delete’r” e-mails to me.  I handle roughly 250-300 e-mails per day at work, so when I get home, I am less picky about what I delete without reading. 

 

Love,

Todd

I guess you all know.

Myrna wrote: We will be in Colorado Springs on Saturday. We are sort of hoping that David and family will be there also but are not certain. We are flying down, thanks to Kirsten and Jared. We leave on Friday and return on Monday morning. The occasion is the baptism of Whitney. We will be there to celebrate with her.

Love, M

It rained for two days. All the snow was gone and then, Sunday night, it started snowing once again. How pretty this Monday morning was in Nephi. Of course, the sun did not last long. It clouded over and started snowing once again. But it certainly is pretty.

Myrna and Eva and Facebook

Myrna wrote: Check out my Facebook profile

Hi Eva,

I set up a Facebook profile where I can post my pictures, videos and events and I want to add you as a friend so you can see it. First, you need to join Facebook! Once you join, you can also create your own profile.

Thanks,
Myrna

Eva wrote:

DearMyrna,  I would love to get your pictures, but I don't care to put pictures and personal things into the comptuer.  Thanks anyway.  It was so good to see you and Tim.  Thanks so much for stopping; it was so good to see you.  I wish I was able to travel again.  Rachel can't understand why  I can't come up every two or three or weeks like I used to. Time and circumstances surely change our lives for good or bad - with old age, mostly bad. Love you,  Eva


Myrna wrote: I understand. I just found some of our family members who were on the site. I thought you might like seeing what they have there but it is OK with me whatever you choose to do. You are a great person and I love you.

It was good to see you. Tim and I always enjoy any time we spend with you.

Love, M

Where is Steamboat, CO?‏

Myrna wrote: LHT would love this.

Kids play with toy bulldozers and excavators in a sandbox. At Dig This, in Steamboat, Colorado, adults get to spend a half- or a full-day using real bulldozers and excavators building roads, digging ditches and moving rocks, in the first heavy equipment arena in the United States.


Arbree wrote: Steamboat Springs is near Colorado Springs, up by Manitou Springs.  You might want to google it.  That would be alot of fun.  I think, altough I would probably hurt someone. :)

Bree


Myrna wrote: I don't think you would but I KNOW I would. It does sound like a lot of fun.

I am glad that the news about Erin is good. I have been worrying because that is my talent--worrying.